REVIEW:

»Die Spielwütigen is not just about actors and acting,« said Andres Veiel in an interview. »Addicted to Acting is also about growing up.« Asked to expand on that statement, he pinpointed the very reason why his documentary is such a current hit at the box office ­ a half-year after its premiere in the Panorama section at the Berlinale, where it was voted awarded the Audience Prize. »As outsiders, we are privileged to see how they grow up, how they mature at the Ernst-Busch-Schule. In the beginning, they are still leaning heavily on that child-like spontaneity that brought them to the prestigious actors’ school in the first place. Then, in the hands of the instructors, each changes to become somebody else. That’s my theme.«

In this seven-year project, from 1996 to 2003, Andres Veiel follows the dreams and aspirations of four young would-be actors, each with a certain amount of talent and each obsessed with a longing to »act just for the sake of acting« (as one of the quartet puts it), as they register for entrance examinations at the Ernst-Busch Schule in Berlin. Certainly, too, each aspirant also possesses a certain degree of charisma to go with the ordeal at the school ­ otherwise, Veiel would not have picked them out of the crew in the first place. Two hundred hours of tape later, he drew the line and edited Die Spielwütigen into a 108-minute documentary. A fiction-documentary, some contend. For my taste, Addicted to Acting is as dynamic and entertaining as any of the feature films programmed in the competition at this year’s Berlinale. Those crowds constantly filling the seats in a half-dozen Berlin venues are there for one reason: word-of-mouth plugs by a growing fan club.

Three young women, and one man ­ a Greek-German, at that. Karina Plachetka, pert and pretty, is the sympathy candidate for a stage career brimmed with classic roles. Constanze Becker, reflective and burdened with doubts, is a natural for the Angst performances of modern drama. Prodromus Antoniades, who gains entrance by letting loose with a scene from Taxi Driver, is the comic, explosive, self-assertive Travis Bickle to the core. And the naive Stephanie Stremler, who flunks the initial test and then makes the rounds of acting schools until she finally cuts mustard on the next time around at Ernst-Busch, is an audience favorite simply because she won’t give up, no matter how often she hears about her lack of talent. Indeed, when Stefanie primes for her big chance with a scene before a professional crowd, the movie applause for »making it« is spontaneous.

Last, but not least, there are the instructors at the school. At times, we see them herding the students through roles and exercises (sword-play is on the agenda) like drill sergeants. At other times, they seek to »rub off« the amateur shine to dig something more out of an otherwise ordinary performance. Prodromos suffers the most. Midway through the courses, lonely and isolated, he has to sell his guitar to pay expenses. On graduation day, he’s offered a job in Switzerland by the Intendant of St. Gallen. Cut ­ Prodromos on the Staten Island ferry before the Statue of Liberty. »St. Gallen!« announces the »Taxi Driver« triumphantly. What happens next to the quartet is well worth seeing ­ a couple times over.

Ron Holloway